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Wednesday, June 6, 2012

You're a snob. I am too.

The lovely Charlene Sawit recently interviewed me for her blog, Field Trips to the Real World, and this was one of her cool questions: Have you encountered some literary snobbery from other writers regarding the genre you write? What advice do you have for writers who might encounter this kind of snobbery?

I had an answer for it (see link) and I love how it made me come to terms with something: I, too, am a snob. So I cannot hate on anyone for being the same, just because I wound up on the other side of it.

What kind of a snob am I? I'm a Buffy snob.

I have to explain this because I realize that some of you were too young, but in 1997, a show called Buffy the Vampire Slayer premiered, and it became my favorite show. It aired its last episode in 2003, but to this day I'd see references to it here and there, friends of friends mentioning that they're fans too, stuff like that. And when I see this, a part of me can't help but think -

Really? You're a fan? Since when? Do you have all the DVDs? Can you name all the episodes in order? Do you know Spike's name pre-vampire? Do you know all the songs in OMWF? Do you know what OMWF means? Did you co-found an online community dedicated to the show and represent the fandom in conventions?

Yeah, what a snob, right? Why do I have to try and undermine your appreciation by asserting that you can't possibly love this more? We're on the same team already.

I'm willing to bet that everyone is a snob about something. So, to answer the last part of that question, advice to writers dealing with snobbery -- well, you'll encounter it from anywhere, at some point. From fellow writers, from readers, from anyone who invested a lot of time and study into something and considers you the wide-eyed newbie. I remind myself how much of a snob I can be, how fun it is to win at this game. And I let them have their moment.